“What then will You do for Your own great name?” (Joshua 7:9)
In Joshua 7:9, Joshua asks God this question after Achan sins by taking items from Jericho that had been devoted to destruction after the walls of Jericho had fallen down—despite clear instructions from Joshua not to do so. As a result of this disobedience, God’s wrath falls on Israel, and they are defeated at Ai. What makes this moment especially devastating is what follows in verses 24–25: Joshua, along with all Israel, takes Achan, the devoted silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, livestock, tent, and all that he had to the Valley of Achor. There, all Israel stones them, and afterward they were burned.
Although Achan committed the sin, his family bore the consequences alongside him. Whether his family knew of the stolen items and helped conceal them, or whether they were unaware, the outcome is the same: Achan’s private disobedience brought public destruction. Joshua had made it clear that disobedience would bring disaster upon Israel, yet Achan chose his own gain over the well-being of the entire nation.
This account is reminiscent of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1–11. They sold a piece of property, lied to Peter about the proceeds, and claimed to give the full amount while secretly keeping part for themselves. When confronted, each fell down and died immediately as an act of divine judgment.
Ichabod is brought out by the same core issue we see again and again in Scripture. In 1 Samuel 2:22–25, we are told that Eli the priest continually heard reports of everything his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were doing in Israel. Among their many sins, they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
The Tent of Meeting was the sacred place where God’s presence dwelt among Israel before the construction of the temple. It was where sacrifices were offered, where priests ministered, and where the people came to seek the Lord. To commit sexual immorality there was not only immoral but deeply blasphemous—it was a direct desecration of God’s dwelling place.
Eli confronts his sons and warns them saying: “If one person sins against another, God may mediate for him; but if someone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” (1 Samuel 2:25). Despite this warning, Hophni and Phinehas refuse to listen. Scripture makes a striking statement here—that they did not listen to their father because it was the Lord’s will to put them to death. Their hearts had become so hardened that judgment was now inevitable.
The gravity of their sin is revealed in 1 Samuel 3:11–14, when God tells Samuel He will judge Eli’s house for their iniquity. And a result, God declares that the sin of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering. This judgment comes to a climax in 1 Samuel 4. Israel goes into battle against the Philistines, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, which represents the presence of the Lord. Yet the Ark was treated as a talisman rather than honored with repentance and obedience. Israel is defeated, the Ark is captured, and Hophni and Phinehas are killed.
When Eli hears that the Ark has been taken and that his sons are dead, he falls backward from his seat, breaks his neck, and dies. Soon after, Phinehas’s wife—pregnant at the time—goes into labor upon hearing the news. As she dies in childbirth, she names her son Ichabod, declaring, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the Ark of God had been captured.
Gilgal, on the other hand, is introduced as a moment of obedience and restoration. Unlike Eli, who failed to restrain his sons, Joshua leads Israel in a decisive act of obedience—bringing the entire nation into order through circumcision.
In Joshua 5, Israel had wandered in the wilderness for forty years until all the men of war who came out of Egypt died. They perished not because God was unfaithful, but because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. As a result, God swore that they would not see the land He had promised to their fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey. It was their children, not the disobedient generation, who entered the Promised Land. These children had not been circumcised during the wilderness years, and so at Gilgal, the Lord commands that Israel be circumcised a second time. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant—a mark of belonging, obedience, and consecration to God. After the Circumcision, in verse 9 God declares, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”
The phrase “the reproach” points to Israel’s disgrace of having lived for forty years outside the fullness of covenant obedience, marked by the absence of circumcision among the men of the nation. What took place at Gilgal was more than a physical act; it was a spiritual break from Egypt’s influence. Through this moment of mass circumcision, God set Israel apart once again, cleansing them from past disobedience and preparing them to enter the land as a people renewed in their covenant identity.
There are countless examples of God’s people breaking faith with Him through sin, causing His glory—His manifest presence, power, and splendor—to depart. Even in God’s faithfulness, His chosen people brought Ichabod upon themselves through their actions.
In these examples, we also see that the responsibility of sin is not always limited to the one who commits it. Sin can be passed through ancestral lines, family patterns, or the culture of a community. That is why Isaiah cried out, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). He understood that uncleanness can exist corporately, not just individually. This truth is echoed in the proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2), describing the generational effects of sin.
As we close this first part, I want you to take a moment—right now—to reflect on your life. Where do you sense God’s presence is missing? Where are you marked by struggle, delay, and setback instead of peace, progress, and breakthrough? Do not rush past this. Take time to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what is hidden. Allow Him to expose what needs to be surrendered, cleansed, and restored.
Because the same God who allowed the reproach to fall away at Gilgal is the same God who can bring you from Ichabod to Gilgal.
Join us in Part 2, where we continue this journey from the place where glory has departed into the place where God’s glory returns.
